A vegetarian food blog

Menu

This summer, Mr. Eats, Mini Eats, and I went on an extensive road trip, nearly three weeks of seeing the sights of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota (and a little of the states in between). It was by no means a culinary expedition--our focus was on national parks and monuments--but since I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the logistics, I thought I’d give some details here. Of course, I’ll include some of my favorite food-related stops as well!

Planning for the trip took nearly a year; reservations for accommodations in or near national parks during the summer book up that far in advance. The first thing I did was figure out what places we wanted to see and could reasonable drive to. Yes, I know they have those things called “airplanes,” but a) we had to take three seasons of clothing for three people and b) flying is just so unenjoyable and unpredictable these days that I didn’t want to risk it.

Our priority for the vacation was Yellowstone National Park, a place my husband and I have wanted to visit our whole lives. Our destinations also included visiting with my brother- and sister-in-law (and niece) at her parents’ house just outside Park City, Utah for the 4th of July as well as the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado (a favorite of ours), Grand Tetons, Devil’s Tower, and Mount Rushmore. We later added Badlands National Park to our itinerary since it was near Mount Rushmore. I wish would could have included more in Utah as well as Glacier National Park, but we didn’t want to rush our visits to the other areas.

As I looked at the map, I decided that Colorado would be our first destination. I’ve driven straight through before, but I’m years older and have a 7-year-old, so we stayed overnight in WaKeeney, Kansas, having budgeted for about 13 hours of drive time, including breaks. It actually took a bit longer than that, so staying in Junction City, Kansas would have been better. Still, leaving at 6:30 a.m. on a Tuesday allowed us to avoid rush hour in Nashville, St. Louis, and Kansas City. We had no problems with traffic at all. But WaKeeney was just a little too far west and it was late when we arrived. But driving through Kansas is actually pretty cool. Different from years ago, now the landscape of western Kansas is covered in huge wind turbines, which look like dancers on the horizon.

Turbines collecting wind energy on the Kansas plains.Playground at the best Sonic I've ever been to in Junction City, Kansas. The staff was fantastic and after many hours in the car, the kid thoroughly enjoyed this large playground.

Day 2: Leave WaKeeny and drive to Boulder, Colorado, four hours and spend the afternoon; drive from Boulder, Colorado to Estes Park, Colorado, one hour

The advantage of WaKeeney was that it was only four hours away from our first vacation stop, Boulder, Colorado. Note: the interstate around Denver is a tollway that photographs your car and sends you the bill later. And it ain’t cheap. This is particularly problematic for people who rent cars (we rented a minivan) because rental companies frequently assess fees for automatic tolls.

Anyhoo, we were so excited to arrive in Boulder. Our first stop was Illegal Pete’s, a local favorite on the Pearl Street mall. It’s mostly burritos and burrito bowls, but they’re huge and delicious. Afterward, we shopped, watched street performers, and got shaved ice before heading up to Estes Park.

After two days of road food, this salad at Illegal Pete's was so welcome. ALL THE VEGETABLES PLEASE.Enjoying a shaved ice on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder.

Though we prefer to stay in Boulder, for this trip, I felt Estes Park was a better idea (and I was right). We need a condo with bedrooms and more home-like accommodations, which is easier to find in Estes Park. It’s also much closer to the park entrance and there’s lots to do for my very extroverted kid. We stayed at the Lofts at Estes Park on Riverside, which was walking distance to all the downtown shopping and restaurant district as well as to a playground and park area. The balcony of the condo overlooks the Big Thompson River as it flows through the town, which is spectacular.

Enjoying a local brew on the patio of Poppy's in Estes Park. The Big Thompson River is in the background. A great place for dinner.Two of our pizzas at Poppy's they're deceptively hearty! We couldn't finish them, so we got two meals out of one dinner.

Also nearby was Poppy’s Pizza, a really great little restaurant with wonderful salads and pizzas and a patio right next to the river. It was very reasonably-priced and we actually all got two meals out of our pizzas (thankful to have a full kitchen at the condo).

I had to be flexible on our itinerary to allow for rainy days (rainy afternoons are almost a certainty in most mountain areas, though). I had plans that could be adjusted based on weather. So for our first day in the park, we got out early and drove along Trail Ridge Road all the way up to the tundra, Alpine Visitors Center, over the Continental Divide and down to Lake Irene. We hiked several trails at the high altitudes, which was tough for the first day, but took it easy for the rest of the day. We had a nice picnic at Lake Irene (I took a cooler so we could take food) and Mini got to play with some other kids in a meadow. We also saw lots of wildlife, including bighorn sheep, which I’d never gotten to see in person.

At the top of the trail at the Alpine Visitors CenterView from the tundra.

The next day (a Friday), the weather in RMNP was projected to be rainy, so we drove to Denver to visit the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. It’s huge and there were several special exhibits I liked (particularly about minerals and gemstones and Colorado’s mining history) but a large portion was dedicated to dioramas of various places and wildlife that was taxidermied. It was like a macabre zoo. But Mr. and Mini loved it.

On the way back to Estes Park, we stopped back by Boulder to walk along the Boulder Creek Path and have an early dinner at the Chautauqua Dining Hall. Mr. Eats indulged in western specialty meats (bison meat loaf!) and I had a wonderful vegetable pasta. Mini Eats had mac and cheese and a generous bowl of mixed fruit. We also toasted the beginning of our vacation with two spectacular cocktails. After dinner, Mr. Eats strolled around the base of the Flatirons while Mini and I hung out at the playground. After four days of interacting with mostly just her parents, she was happy to make some new friends.

On our third day in Estes Park (a Saturday), we started with breakfast at The Stanley Hotel. Reservations don’t fill up for the restaurant, but they do for the ghost tour, so we had to skip that. We did get to enjoy walking around the grounds of the hotel and enjoying the spectacular weather.

View of Estes Park from The Stanley HotelPlaying on the lawn of The Stanley Hotel

Afterward, we went back to RMNP. Since it was already mid-day, we opted for the less-busy trails accessible by shuttle from the park-and-ride. The plan was to do the Cub Lake and Fern Lake trails (which are connected), but I mis-read the information about the length and elevations. So, we ended up doing just Cub Lake, but it was about six miles with a 1,000 foot climb in elevation. We didn’t have enough water or snacks to make it to Fern Lake. I was also concerned about missing the shuttle back to the park-and-ride, since we were out for six hours. It was more stressful than I’d planned, but it was a beautiful trail and we got to see a mink (or ferret) catch a snake right next to us and also have fish nibble our toes. After finishing this exhausting hike, we drove out to Lyons to eat at The Colorado Cherry Company. Pies, and cobblers, and ice cream for all.

Day 6: RMNP popular lake trails

On Sunday, we got up early to do the popular hikes, since we knew the crowds would be heavy (this was July 2; the 4th of July holiday is the busiest for national parks). We barely made it into one of the last parking spots at the park-and-ride and then headed to Nymph Lake and Dream Lake. Dream Lake was a real treat and worth the climb in elevation and across creeks and snowbanks. There’s a spectacular waterfall, too.

After finishing those trails, we visited Bear Lake (the easiest and most popular trail in the park) and then headed to Sprague Lake for a late picnic lunch. It was once the home to a resort and is still a really fun place to have a picnic since you can play in the creek nearby.

Later, we had leftovers from dinner at the Chautauqua and toasted our last night in town with mead from the nearby Redstone Meadery.

Yikes! Five months since my last update! I've actually been cooking up a bunch of new recipes, but don't have hundreds of beautiful photos to share, so the print-outs with stains and mark-ups simply languish in my junk drawer.

I had intended to write this product review in time for Christmas wish lists. But you can go ahead and mark them for now because let me tell you: you will love thisUSA Pan non-stick bakeware.

I learned about USA Pan at the Music City Food + Wine Festival. As I was relaxing and letting copious amounts of food settle, I struck up a conversation with a couple of their representatives. They had several pieces of the bakeware on hand and were nice enough to give me a muffin pan and a loaf pan to try out. I have to admit I was dubious; I'm not a fan of most non-stick bakeware, not least because it never seems to work.

actually works! Without greasing at all! There are all sorts of other reasons why these products are great, but that's the top two right there: non-toxic and really, truly non-stick. And let me tell you, I tried to make stuff stick. Corn muffins, blueberry muffins, and my banana nut bread. All popped out with no effort and no mess. Take a look:

Look at that smooth bread. I pulled it out just like that. You can still see the steam on the loaf pan. And the imprints on the bread!Here's a cornbread muffin that also popped right out. Not even a crumb left behind.

And finally, the blueberry muffin--the ultimate test! The residue wiped right off with a damp sponge.

Even messy blueberry muffins were an easy clean-up because the residue outside the muffins just wiped right off with a damp sponge. No scrubbing and no damage to the non-stick coating.

I can't say enough good things about this bakeware. Not only is it absolutely technically fantastic, it's not expensive! Most pans cost between $10 and $30, so I'll be adding several more pieces. I hope they will soon add Bundt and tube pans to their product line. Visit their online store to see the entire product line.

I was really pleased at the vegetarian selection this year and had some really fantastic food, but I have to say my favorite thing this year was the addition of the Williams-Sonoma Pastry Tent curated by Lisa Donovan (of Buttermilk Road). Many of Nashville's best pastry chefs brought out their best for folks to try and it was immediately my preferred place to hang (it helped that it gave shelter from the rain on Saturday). Even better: many of the desserts were packaged, so I could just drop them in my bag to take home and eat later. Because even with five hours to graze, it is really easy to fill up at this event. But because of that, I don't have a lot of great pictures of the desserts. But among the standouts was a root beer float cookie sandwich from Littlest Love, a chocolate panna cotta from Megan Williams of Etch, an olive and thyme fougasse from Dozen, a soft pretzel with brown butter mustard from Kayla May of Josephine, and the lemon ricotta cake from Rebekah Turshen of City House. I think I got those right, but everything--EVERYTHING--was amazing. There were also sweets from Dulce Desserts, Olive and Sinclair, Sweet 16th, Utterly Nashville (amazing macarons), The Salted Table's Charles Hunter, and Southern Fatty Phillip Fryman. The espresso/coffee/chocolate chip cookies I got from The Salted Table and Sweet 16th kept me going all of the following week.

Along with the food, there was a TON of alcohol. I didn't try a lot of the alcoholic beverages, but I really enjoyed the ginger-infused Virgil Kaine bourbon, a hibiscus mimosa made with Firepot Chai tea, and American Born Moonshine's Dixie sweet tea moonshine. I also got to sample Pepsi's new artisanal colas, the 1893 "Original" and "Ginger" colas, which are made with cane sugar. They were fantastic. But now for the photos: